Death and the Mother

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Date:
1892

Type:
Figure group

Materials:
Bronze, granite

Measurements:

Inscription:
On the bronze base, back right: "N H Jacobsen./Paris 1892"

Owner:
Copenhagen Muicipality

Donated by:
The Albertina Foundation

Prework:
Statuette group. Repeat in smaller format. Bronze. 1892. 32 x 40 x 25 cm. Vejen Kunstmuseum, inv.nr. 820
Plaster. 1892. 152 x 183 x 108 cm. Statens Museum for Kunst, Inv.no. 5387
Bronze. 1892. 152 x 199 x 120 cm. Vejen Kunstmuseum, Inv.no. 134.

Address:
The churchyard of Sankt Petri Kirke (St Peter’s Church) by the churchyard wall along Sankt Peders Stræde

Recommended litterature:
Ellinor Wesche: Friluftskunsten i København, København 1932, 19. Monumenter Mindesmærker og Statuer i København Frederiksberg og Gjentofte, København 1944, 14. Legatet 'Albertina'. I anledning af legatets 80 aars dag den 18. november 1959, København 1959, 9, 16. Hovedstadens monumenter mindetavler museer. En vejviser, København 1962, 28. Bent Zinglersen: Københavnske monumenter og mindesmærker, København 1974, 169. Dyveke Helsted, Torben Holck Colding & Torben Melander: Albertina. Et legats historie gennem 100 år 1879-1979, København 1979, 74-75. Henrik Wivel: Ny dansk kunsthistorie, bd. 5: Symbolisme og impressionisme, København 1994, 126-27. Peter Bak Rasmussen & Jens Peter Munk: Skulpturer i København, København 1999, 80-81. Jens Peter Munk: Bronze & granit. Monumenter i Københavns Kommune, København 2005, 186-87, 189

We have more litterature about this monument - please contact us

The sculpture was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Story of a Mother”.

Death has robbed the mother of her child. The unhappy woman is doubled up on the ground while Death, in the form of a skeleton, is hurrying away with his cloak flapping around him and a scythe over his shoulder.

The effect of the group is based on the contrast between the dynamic movement and the immovable stare of the woman, the whole designed to produce an impressive overall rhythm